Chapter 3: APPLICATION AND PRACTICE

36) Is there such a thing as free
will, and what is it anyway?

This question must be answered in two
parts:

1) In Heaven
there can be no free will, for how can the Son of God be free to choose
when there is literally nothing there to choose from? In a non-dualistic
reality, which is the state of Heaven, there is only perfect Oneness. That
is why A Course in Miracles states that the Will of God and the
will of His Son are one and the same. And so there can be nothing else,
and therefore nothing to choose between. Moreover, the process of choosing
has meaning only within a subject-object world: a subject who chooses among
different objects, all perceived and experienced to be outside the mind
that chooses. Therefore, the term "free will" has no meaning here,
unless it is used, as A Course in Miracles does in one place, to
refer to the "freedom of will," the title of a section in Chapter
30. However, in this instance the term means something quite different
from the usual conception of "free will." In Heaven, our will is
free because it cannot be imprisoned, which is a statement that
reflects the Atonement principle that the separation from God never happened.
Therefore, the Son of God cannot truly be imprisoned by his own mistaken
belief that he has sinned against his Creator, and thus been made a prisoner
to his own guilt. We read in several places:

How wonderful it is to do your
will! For that is freedom. There is nothing else that ever should be called
by freedom's name. Unless you do your will you are not free. And would
God leave His Son without what he has chosen for himself? God but ensured
that you would never lose your will when He gave you His perfect Answer.
Hear It now, that you may be reminded of His Love and learn your will.
God would not have His Son made prisoner to what he does not want. He joins
with you in willing you be free. And to oppose Him is to make a choice
against yourself, and choose that you be bound (T-30.II.2).

In the holy state the will is free,
so that its creative power is unlimited and choice is meaningless (T-5.II.6:4).

It is not your will to be imprisoned
because your will is free. That is why the ego is the denial of free will.
It is never God Who coerces you, because He shares His Will with you. His
Voice teaches only in accordance with His Will, but that is not the Holy
Spirit's lesson because that is what you are. The lesson is that
your will and God's cannot be out of accord because they are one (T-8.II.3:2-6).

When we finally accept the Atonement for
ourselves, awakening from the dream and thus becoming manifestations of
the Holy Spirit, the recognition that our wills are one with God's must
inevitably follow.

2) Within the dream,
however, which is the realm of perception and illusion, the concept of
free will becomes extremely important and meaningful for it is the mechanism
of salvation. In his dream, the Son believed that he had chosen against
God, and this set into motion the whole drama of the unholy trinity --
sin, guilt, and fear -- culminating in the making of the physical universe
as a defense against the perceived wrathful vengeance of the ego's made-up
God. Thus, within the dream, the same power of the Son's mind to choose
against
God, now must be free to choose for Him. And so Jesus states in
a number of important passages:

In this world the only remaining
freedom is the freedom of choice; always between two choices or two voices.
Will is not involved in perception at any level, and has nothing to do
with choice (manual, p. 75; C-1.7:1-2).

The power of his decision offers it
to him as he requests. Herein lie hell and Heaven. The sleeping Son of
God has but this power left to him (M-21.3:5-7).

You have chosen to be in a state of
opposition in which opposites are possible. As a result, there are choices
you must make....Choosing depends on a split mind (T-5.II.6:2-3,6).

Would you be hostage to the
ego or host to God? you will accept only whom you invite. You are free
to determine who shall be your guest, and how long he shall remain with
you. Yet this is not real freedom, for it still depends on how you see
it (T-11.II.7:1-4; italics ours).

Indeed, one might say that a purpose of
A
Course in Miracles is for Jesus to teach us that we do have a choice
within our dreams of separation and specialness, and that this choice rests
within our minds. By learning the meaning of forgiveness, which is that
our experience of the world is a projection of a decision in our minds
that can now be changed, we learn to exercise this free will. Thus we ultimately
learn and remember that our true will has been free all along. We simply
had forgotten. And so Jesus states: "The Holy Spirit calls you both to
remember [God] and to forget [the ego]" (T-5.II.6:1).

Reproduced with the kind permission of Gloria and
Kenneth
Wapnick and the Foundation for A Course in Miracles